


a man in a black mask

by laiix



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: ATEEZ ZERO : FEVER PT. 1, Angst, Gen, Implied Time Travel, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Or Is It?, Pirate King - Freeform, based on diary film teaser, but idk how :(, hala hala guy?, i would enter this in the Ateez Storyline Contest, poor joong is all alone :(, sorry im dumbtiny, tagging is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25194406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laiix/pseuds/laiix
Summary: "You're a very hard man to find, Pirate King."If there was one thing the Pirate King was notorious for nowadays, it was his ghost crew."What would you give to get them back?"--a little drabble based on the diary film teaser
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	a man in a black mask

**Author's Note:**

> hi atiny here's a little something i impulsively wrote at 1am  
> inspired by ateez zero : fever pt. 1 diary film teaser  
> hope you enjoy!

Hongjoong was found as the sun was about to set on a humid summer day. The fans humming in the background gave little reprieve from the heat, and the flames of the explosion at his front door gave even less. 

The plan _was_ to take a nap on his ratty couch, but the silhouette emerging from the fire called for a change in plans. 

Hongjoong scrambled to get a better grip, drawing his feet up and away from the menacing figure. 

The man approaching him, holding what looked like an unlit lantern in his left hand, was dressed in all black – black coat, black pants, black shoes, black fedora, black mask…

He said nothing as he approached Hongjoong. The blazing remains of what used to be the front door of the warehouse Hongjoong was holed up crackled in the background.

Glancing up warily through blue fringe, the blood left Hongjoong’s face. 

Under the brim of the man’s hat, the man’s eyes glinted.

“You’re a very hard man to find…”

His voice was distorted, as if many different voices were speaking in unison. (If Hongjoong looked closely enough, he swore the shape and color of the man’s eyes shifted every so often. He was pretty damn sure it wasn’t just an imaginary, heat-induced mirage, either.)

“... Pirate King.”

Hongjoong grit his teeth. The mask covered the man’s face from his jaw to the bridge of his nose, making it almost impossible to see any kind of expression. 

“Or should I say, Kim Hongjoong?”

Hongjoong laughed mirthlessly. “You act like you’ve just spoiled a big fucking secret. News flash– I’m not the guy you’re looking for.”

The masked man hummed. His eyes gave Hongjoong an appraising look, locking onto his blue hair. “And how would you know what I came here for, Pirate King? The only difference I see between the man I knew and the one I see before me now is a surprising change in hair color.” 

“The man you knew,” Hongjoong repeated. “Do I know you?”

The masked man’s eyes tightened. If he was smiling, it probably looked painful. “It’s funny,” he said. “The last time I saw that hair color, it was on a pair of giants in a ragtag crew.”

A pair of familiar faces burst to life in a painful flash at the front of Hongjoong’s mind. He hadn’t thought about those faces (the doglike endearments, small eyes but a big personality, both with hearts large enough to have room for eight...) in years.

Hongjoong’s eyes began to burn.

“I’ll ask again.” _He will not show weakness_. “Do I know you?”

The masked man stayed silent. He slowly reached up, adjusting the brim of his fedora.

(That goddamned black fedora, an exact replica of the one that he’s seen flung across the room whenever meetings in the map room dragged on for too long–

 _Cola being spit back into its bottle. Snacks stolen from each other’s hands. A strange, giggling figure with a flower on its head dancing on an abused whiteboard..._ )

“I have one question for you, Pirate King.”

“Would you stop calling me that?” Hongjoong muttered. 

Mirth danced in the masked man’s stare. (There was something off about it– too cold, too patronizing… then playful, innocent… then back again, and again…)

“Do you miss them?”

Hongjoong stiffened. There was no question of which “them” the masked man was talking about. If there was one thing the Pirate King was notorious for nowadays, it was his ghost crew. 

The masked man stepped closer. Without breaking eye contact, he held up the lantern he had been carrying.

Hongjoong eyed it warily. Upon closer inspection, he realized the lantern was actually an hourglass. All of the sand had gathered at the bottom. 

Fire crackled in the distance.

Without waiting for an answer, the masked man continued. “What would you give to get them back?”

Hongjoong looked up. (A dusty skateboard, abandoned couches across the room, the seven empty spaces in the too-big warehouse– they all screamed at him from the corner of his eye.)

The answer slipped from Hongjoong’s throat in a barely-there whisper. 

“ _Anything_.”

The masked man tilted his head up and gave Hongjoong a half-lidded, lazy stare. Like the cat had finally caught the canary.

“I thought you would say that.”

\--

It was cold.

( _“Are you familiar with the Harry Potter series, Pirate King?”_ )

Wherever he had landed, it was dark.

( _San and Wooyoung had loved it._ )

He could feel something warm, just beyond his reach.

( _“Then you must remember what a Time Turner does.”_ )

Fingers trembling, he blindly stretched his hand out, searching for the source of that warmth.

( _“You’re telling me I have to time travel?”_ )

His hand met a smooth surface of warm glass.

( _“Oh, you’ll definitely have to_ travel. _We’re just not sure if it’s_ time _that you’re gonna be traveling through.”_ )

He blinked rapidly, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness.

( _“We?”_ )

Coughing, he spat out a mouthful of sand.

( _“Just leave already.”_ )

Hongjoong stood up, eyes wide. There were miles of sand stretching out in every direction.

At his feet, the hourglass continued to glow a pale blue, like the moon, and the sand flowed from the bottom to the top.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed reading!  
> maybe this will turn into something more? we'll have to see...  
> also i'm a two month old atiny and my writing is super rusty, so please be gentle  
> come chat with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/stayclowndom) or [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/stayclowndom), i'm lonely and trying to get over a m a s s i v e writer's block :')


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